According to Russia, the events of December 14 were a “anticipated result” of the American ambassador’s actions, who under the guise of protecting Bangladeshi citizens’ rights, had been “persistently seeking to influence” Bangladeshi internal affairs.
According to Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, “his colleagues from the British and German diplomatic missions have recently been engaged in the same cause and have allowed themselves to openly give recommendations to the local authorities regarding transparency and inclusivity in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.”
According to Russia, such acts that “break” the fundamental rules of not meddling in the internal affairs of sovereign states are “unacceptable.”
The spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry stated that they were aware of the widely reported incident involving the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, whose safety was ‘allegedly threatened’ by members of a local public organization on December 14, 2022, in Dhaka, when he went to meet with the family of a supporter of an opposition political party.
According to the Russian spokeswoman, the supporter of the opposition party vanished in 2013.
If someone has a question, how about using the words “diplomat,” “immunity,” “embassy,” and “security”? According to international law and the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations, we constantly urge these things, she stated.
“We urge the US, the UK, and other nations to take an interest in and comment on cases involving their own security, as well as to support their colleagues when the nations and their representatives, including at international organizations, raise concerns about the security of their embassies and consular facilities,” Zakharova continued.
They don’t give a damn about this. At best, they do nothing, and at worst, they defend the perpetrators. We encouraged the Americans to take action through the UN Security Council after international terrorists launched a string of attacks against our embassy in Syria, she said.
Everything was evident, she remarked. There can be no political reason for refusing to publicly express one’s opinion and use the Security Council’s collective voice.
Washington, according to the spokeswoman, does not agree with Russia’s proposal that the council adopt a firm position on the safety of diplomats and condemn terrorist attacks against embassies and diplomats.
The representative of the Russian foreign ministry stated that “there cannot be any double standards, only a joint, cohesive position.”
The comments from the spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry came a day after the Russian embassy in Dhaka published a cartoon on its official Twitter account on December 21 criticizing Western policies toward Ukraine as the latter appeared to be engaged in a discussion with the former over political developments in Bangladesh.
A day prior, the US embassy in Dhaka questioned Russia’s non-interference policy toward other nations in a tweet.
The Russian embassy said in a statement on December 20 that the nation was “always dedicated” to its principled position on non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, including Bangladesh.
On December 21, the US embassy in Dhaka tweeted a question about whether the non-interference policy applied to Ukraine after sharing a local newspaper article about the Russian comments.
The Russian comment came after a recent statement from the US embassy, which said that since human rights are at the core of US foreign policy, the embassy takes all claims of human rights breaches seriously.
